Wish me luck

Hi all!

I hope it's okay to post this here as I'm not exactly new at keto. I've done it quite a lot in the past with varying results and - honestly - that's probably mostly due to myself.

The last couple of attempts, I quit very soon into the diet because I burnt myself out. I am autistic (although I didn't know then) and this contributes to an "all in or all out" mindset. When on keto, it meant doing keto and intermittent fasting and drinking a gallon of water and doing various body weight exercises and going on walks and restricting calories...

It's starting to dawn on me that I put my metabolism into a state of shock doing that, so of course I wasn't closing weight once the water weight was gone! And getting frustrated about the lack of progress despite drastic changes made me give up.

I'm hoping to take a better approach now. No more 40-hour fasts whenever the mood hits, or 18/6 fasts for that matter. I started doing 14/10 last week and that feels good. It's easy, I feel comfortable doing it. And starting today, I will do keto, but that's it. No calorie restriction, no exercise, no guzzling water, just cutting out carbs.

It'll be hard enough sticking to keto without cheating. I realise that now. I've faced the difficulties that I have with food. I don't have ARFID, but I definitely have issues with flavours and textures. Once I figure out what works, once I established a routine, I'll be able to focus on calories in and calories out, if that makes sense.

For now, I just need to get through the first month or so. I'm hoping to find some support here. If anyone else is autistic, how did you handle not having access to your safe foods? How did you manage changing your routines and habits? Any help and support is more than welcome.